


LiveGears

by EliteLenny223



Category: LiveGears
Genre: Action, Adventure, Future, Multi, alien - Freeform, livegears - Freeform, mechanical
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-05-29 05:37:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15066326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EliteLenny223/pseuds/EliteLenny223
Summary: Having high intellect, Miranda was a front-runner biology student in the year 2119. When she was faced with trials starting with the death of her father, she eventually finds herself part of an experiment that would change how she views the world... together with her.





	1. ...

**_August 17, 2019… Washington DC… Formerly High Drone Command of the United States Armed Forces…_ **

A video was running yet it felt real to people who can imagine it, and it started with that scene: Flames were existent all around the High Drone Command perimeter and they were on wrecked cars, burnt out corpses and buildings. Drones were also wrecked but most of them were outside the base. Soldiers from different corners of the world, human in nature, were walking in the compound, alert of their surroundings and their weapons raised. The video kept playing this and it later panned to a ruined air control tower. And around it were two 16-foot cannons of sorts. The image slowly fades to black, signaling that there could be another scene.

An image suddenly appeared on the screen, which showed that this place used to be a battleground between men who had rifles and machine guns, facing off against an alien threat who had high-powered automatic weapons themselves. And eventually, more images show up, playing some sort of story in the form of a slideshow.

There were images of the dates at the corners, ranging them from April 12, 2017 to July 16, 2017.

The next set of images were dated two years later, and they were showing that it had become  a battleground once again, but the pictures symbolized hope. Prisoners, with humans mostly women and children, and some groups of androids who were part of the alien race’s citizenry were also rescued, terrified but felt safe.

The pictures shown this time was dated in 2019 with pictures lasting for 3 days.

The last set of images after the two previous sets was a very large vessel with a size equivalent to two football fields. Images captured from the air suggested it was on fire and it was split in half… The video showed from earlier had two large cannons and in between them was a ruined air-control tower. It was briefly shown on the images. To others who are seeing this, they could tell how it happened and how this came to be. Others didn’t speculate and simply ignored the fact that the obvious is stated on the picture. Soon, the screen went blank.

The class room was eventually lit up afterwards and there were 50 people from 15 to 21 years in age seated in a well-spaced classroom. The desks were white while the chairs were made of wood. And the classroom was styled all the way to the back to be a staircase while on each step was row after row of chairs.

“ _Now…_ ” the woman said this in front of the students as soon as she faced them. Then she had everyone’s attention before she spoke. “The moments that happened in those two years were very crucial as to how we adapted to the situation. The kind of animosity the Sy-Tren showed us was the only thing that gave us the clue. Their first shot… was actually a radiation poisoning event, which made us spark up.

“And now those years have passed and the war was already over, we’ve been given the chance to repair. Come a century later, we finally see to it that these moments would never be forgotten. The centennial celebration of our victory against the Sy-Tren is teaching us that wherever we would go… we would always find trouble around the corner. While individuality is not enough to conquer what is evil, striking together is what made us strong. And even got us to claim their technology but not without thinking of the consequences. There were conservatives who thought that if we used their technology, it would change us forever. We took that risk, and here we are.

“I’m glad to finally end this school year with the centennial celebration, kids.” The woman smiled, expressing confidence in herself as she looked at her audience listening attentively. “Some of you will be moving through bigger moments, so I want to give you all advice: Be better than the last second. If you can’t do it quick, nothing should rush you. You’re all looking forward to your journey, so walk with your chin high.”

**_November 16, 2119... 100 years later… State of California, United States of America…_ **

**_St. Mary Guerrera’s University… Classroom 8H…_ **

**_1628 hours…_ **

**_Miranda_ ** _– And that was about the last time I heard Miss Stinton speak about history in that year. It’s sad, really. She’ll be ending her career and move on to Toronto to spread the word more. Canada is a nice place, really. But I like Beverly Hills, since it’s where I live._

_This class… her open mind and the way she speaks… It isn’t boring… but it was meant to be a general message for everyone. It made sense… at least to me. Can’t tell what the others think, but they just keep a straight face. I know however how they’re lying to themselves._

_My name is Miranda Pierce. I’m 15 years old, and I was a college student in Enhanced Biology. I’m not really your typical Grade-A student. More like Grade Double-S if you ask too many people around me…_

The school bell rang and Miranda herself sighs the moment she hears it. “ _Finally class is over,_ ” she thought.

_It wasn’t a regular day… especially for me since I was excited. There was something else besides the centennial remembrance of the victory from that war… Dad’s coming home from Mars. Apparently he had special leave because of him being deserving of it. And that was what I was thinking most of the time… Everything else was just blurred out to me._

And Miranda started to leave the school like the rest of the students. But just as she already took steps off the classroom, a brown-haired blue-eyed 19 year old girl shows up. “Well you’re eager,” the girl said.

“Of going home, yes” replied Miranda who scratched her head while heading down a hallway before turning to another. The girl was behind her. “Millie, ya done with your class? It’s a little too early.”

“We’ve been dismissed early thanks to the celebration. Not too exciting, huh?”

“I beg to differ,” Miranda replied just before she sighed and stopped walking. She knows that on where she was on that part of the hallway, she was alone with Millie. “I think everyone’s gonna be in high spirits. Class is over and the vacation’s starting which only takes a month. And to think others are gonna be out of this forever. They don’t have any idea of what’s gonna happen the next time.” She chuckled just before she continued and encountered a staircase before moving down with Millie behind her.

Then Millie became curious. “Miranda, what exactly do you mean?”

“Though Miss Stinton is leaving, someone much stricter I believe is gonna replace her. The senior history class won’t be too happy with this one. And… You’re a senior.” Miranda said this with a smirk.

And Millie was anxious already, even evident as she panted. “Well DO TELL ME! I don’t wanna get bad marks!! I already flunked two quizzes, you jerk!”

Miranda only shrugged in response. Eventually, the conversation had to halt immediately. She saw someone annoying as she got to the ground floor with that staircase. Approaching the two was a white-haired male in his early 20’s wearing a black sweat shirt. This one had a height of six feet flat. When he walked at the two girls, he could only smile.

But Miranda stopped just in front of him with arms crossed. “You are a real jerk for standing me up last night.” As Miranda said this, Millie winced in surprise.

The boy’s smile faded quick and made a gesture with two hands in front of him to protect him. “Now, now… I think we all just need a break from.”

“No… You need a break from your stupid alcoholic beverage experiments which obviously don’t get you anywhere. I appreciated the invitation to a hotel, but finding out you’ve been drinking alone at Sally’s really just made me doubt about how you do with other girls, Jack. So good thing I’m not that angry.”

“Wait, you’re not?”

“No. From now on, you and I are just going to remain friends. Not a step higher than that.” Miranda sighed after speaking and kept walking, not minding if he followed or not. And when she DID sense that he was behind her, she continued. “You got what you need for that portfolio?”

Though Jack felt down being disliked by Miranda, he at least felt he was given importance. Hearing Miranda’s question, he’s able to answer. “Yeah. I got enough for us. And… I got my individual shit laid out.”

“Good. Millie, you all set too?”

Millie hummed “Mm-hm” then spoke, “If nothing’s gonna stop me from taking a lot of pictures in Italy, then I think we got a big break when it comes to the travelling portion of the work.”

“And of course, I’ll be handling the safeties of travel. Looks like things are in order.” And Miranda led the group of three just outside the university gates. A few Hover-cars were lined up, but a limousine was able to get to the gates just in time. She stopped and looked back at the two of her friends. “Jack… Millie… You two better not be strangers. A month of vacation doesn’t mean we’re gonna be totally lazy. Still… I can’t thank you both enough for standing tall.” Then she looked at Jack. “And about that night you stood me up… Just make sure you don’t do that to another girl. I’m making sure you and Millie got room if ever you decided, but I was welcome to entertain you last night.”

Jack blushed a little knowing this subject is embarrassing. It’s a good thing the three weren’t close to other students leaving the campus. Scratching his head, he made his response. “You got quite the words to say it…”

“I know. I could have been your first,” Miranda said with a half-glare. “You got Millie anyway.”

And Millie blushed like a tomato before she pouted. “OH HELL NO!! COME ON, MIRANDA!!”

“I was just suggesting,” Miranda simply said. “Well, I better get going. Jack… Maybe we can talk later.”

At that time, Jack was looking away. When Miranda got his attention, he smiled a little. “I… Yeah, I appreciate it.”

Miranda raised an eyebrow while turning her back on them. “Don’t always count on a smile. Take care you two.” And she walked towards the limousine before the rear door opened by itself. She helped herself and bent down before getting in the limousine, pulling the door close. She sighed, knowing she was alone. “Take me home,” she said. And the limousine started to move forward. A small screen was in front of her and it showed her usual driver. She then smiled upon seeing him. “You took a while, Fred.”

“ _Sure I did,_ ” Fred replied while keeping his hands on the wheel and on short-range comms. “ _I had to get my daughter to the airport for Berlin. Apparently she’s found a good university she’d get used to._ ”

“Ah, I heard. Classic-21st Music Linking?”

“ _Pretty much the short description, but you got it._ ” Fred chuckled a little before changing the subject. “ _So… Up in the air we go?_ ”

“Yeah,” Miranda replied while putting on a seatbelt over her hips and torso and strapped herself in. “Take us up, Fred. And… Put Station-JH on the radio.” And when she was given what she wants, some 21st century Alternative music was played at half its loudness.

The Hover-Limousine was eventually engaging its Vertical Thrust-Boosts. It was lifted off the ground for several seconds just at the same time while small sets of wings appeared on the sides of the vehicle, while Forward Thrust-Boosts made it fly forward. Soon, it was flying forward and upwards.

It took a while for the Sky-Limousine to level itself and join the Aerial Freeway where there were other vehicles in flight. Miranda told Fred at this time that she’d like to take her time to relax and followed her. Fred made sure to stay on the Freeway and was quite aware he can get back easily to the Pierce Residence. He was right in his thoughts that Miranda must be thinking of something.

Miranda didn’t mind if some of the sun’s rays enter through her windows since she had other things running in her mind. She was using a View-Tablet to view some events she missed.

A news anchor was speaking from the Transparent-Framed tablet as a series of events in the view of videos were played. “ _In other news, the Centennial Celebration while giving the day smiles, also gave frowns especially to multiple activist groups who were still upset of the petition that was denied entry into Congressional Review. The matter related to the Bio-Copy Act of 2092 that allows authorized research facilities to make genetic human copies was widely controversial, but this was said to be the only solution amidst the problems of decreasing birth rates and under-population of multiple Asian countries._ ”

_The bad things never stop piling up in the news, even after the events of first contact with the Sy-Tren several decades later. What I’ve learned when it comes to people: They either make the good or the bad choices that shapes everyone’s lives. I’m not one to completely ignore the horrible results to those choices. But at least in the long term, everyone’s given a better chance than the previous second. Some clones become different people and some are played as the same person until their regular lives come due. Good thing the ethics communities are able to at least get through to the minds of corporations…_

_Oh… I think some elaboration’s due._

_Dad’s more focused in work. He’d been pursuing great research in relation to Reproduction, since humanity unfortunately is having a problem with birth rates. We’re losing the value of what makes us human: Remembering importance of how we came to be. That’s what motivated him to step up and restore normal reproduction and the research was key._

_The years might have been productive in my view, but other things will soon hit my face, especially later that fateful night…_

**_Weather... Rainy..._ **

**_1938 hours..._ **

_The news of dad coming back from Mars made me excited. I heard he was in a Hover-Taxi which was driving back to Beverly Hills. That time, I was baking some lasagna the old-fashioned way... using an old-century oven after getting a mix of cheese and macaroni for ingredients. Mom was the cook in the house, but I took the lead in prepping the Welcome Home dinner..._

**_Pierce Residence, Bolens Neighborhood Residential Compounds, Beverly Hills California..._ **

Miranda took her time baking in the kitchen using an old-model oven. It was dependable even when it was being used 100 years ago since it took longer for it to heat anything that’s baked.

There was a small mirror just by the oven, and its main purpose was to check if the baker has been exhausting one’s self too much it could signals to take a break. And she looked at her fair complexion, dark olive-green eyes and her loose smooth black hair having a few strands out of place. She was wearing an apron over her chest as what she also saw. Other than what she saw herself as, she didn’t feel the stress and smiled. She continued to observe the oven cook the lasagna.

_Mom was the one who taught me how to cook and bake ever since. She’s Hilda Pierce, my loving best friend and great supporter before I went to school, while my Dad, whose name is Harold, was my mentor._

_Anyway, advanced technology already taught us to easily take 10-second pizza to be cooked by microwave. Pretty neat, huh? Not really. See, I was able to look at how food is, and some of the chemical-based pizza had ingredients that could cause cancer in long-term, faster than other foods. And to think those in my age group didn’t care... Sure they’re clean on other things, but they gotta at least be aware. I made this aware towards Millie and Jack, but it seems Millie’s the better listener. Jack’s more of a drinker whatever time he wants and he laughs at the thought of pizza being rigged with bad chemicals. He doesn’t need to worry since I’ll attend his funeral. Crap... That’s a bad death joke…_

The oven bell dinged just before Miranda put on oven mitts and held the handle. Gently pulling down the oven door, she can sense the heat and the smoke from the lasagna now readily baked while still in the aluminum foil. She made sure to breathe a few times to ready herself and put the mitts on the aluminum before pulling the dish out. Putting the aluminum case full of melted lasagna on the black hot plate on the kitchen table, she gently lets go of it before quietly moaning in pain. She recognized it wasn’t pleasant since it was hot.

“Been a while since you baked,” a female voice said to Miranda.

And Miranda took a view at its owner while removing her mitts before smiling. “Mom? Hey. You’re home.”

“And you’re early. School ended early?” Hilda asked while she looked at the oven door and promptly closed it herself. “Dear, next time don’t forget to close it.”

“Oh! Sorry…”

“Hm…” Hilda was inspecting the lasagna and smiled at it. “This is nicely done. Finally, you got it.”

_And it took a while for you to appreciate that, Mom._

Thanks to hearing Hilda approve, Miranda smiled while glad. “I worked hard at it. How to get the right timing to let all of it melt in places seemed confusing at first. This is YOUR way after all. And… It really needed a hundred-year old oven.”

“One that’s restored and maintained thanks to support from your father,” Hilda replied while putting on her own pair of mitts over her hands. “He always supported my decisions when it comes to remembering the past. It’s… how we came to be. It’s what made him more aware of what today brings to us unlike back then when it was simpler.” She then grabbed the lasagna-filled aluminum case with two hands holding opposite sides of its length. “This age, to him, is not a joke. And I believe him. We have to be very careful,” she spoke more just as a nearby ringing tone was heard.

And Miranda knew the ringtone came from her smart phone. She was wearing that Bluetooth earpiece attached to her right ear and pressed a button on it. “Hello?” She then listened a bit and sighed after a few seconds. “Wait… It was THAT crowded? Then where are ya? Hm… Okay. Well, what time are you coming?”

Hilda could understand Miranda’s way of talking to her father and decided to pick up the aluminum case and walk off. “I’ll be at the dining room!”

Miranda nodded hearing her mother’s statement while listening intently to her father Harold before she spoke up. “You really had to use the Hover-Taxi instead of a Sky-Taxi? Could have been quicker, Dad.”

Harold sighs at the other line. “ _Well I cannot say I’m not tempted. Just these days, President Jones is alerted to false fare hikes made by drivers. I thought I’d use the hover-travelling routes instead._ ”

“Jeez… Let the professionals handle it. Traffic’s not your game. Deep research is.”

“ _That’s what’s annoying. Saving cash is what I’m doing. I’m a tactician in saving._ ”

“Sure,” Miranda muttered and snorted. “Heard about Mike’s test scores?”

“ _I heard. Goodness, he needs to do a little better at his math… It might be complicated but it’s already mainstreamed for everyone. Anyway… I should give him pointers when I do get back. I just got off the lower freeway point._ ”

“Hey! You’re pretty close then!” Miranda was excited at her reply and decided to climb to the second floor using the emergency stairs. Opening a hatch to and stepping on  the small balcony above the kitchen, she’s got quite a view of several houses and a good view of the roads. Hover cars can be seen at a distance with their headlights and taillights. She knew however that if she sees something different, she’d know what it is. “ _And it’s the view I need,_ ” she thought. “Dad… I’m looking forward to see ya. No one’s using the roads at this time… I… It’s been a year since you were last at home. I’m excited to actually see you. Last time you were out… was it seven years?”

“ _As I remembered it yes,_ ” Harold said in a more calm tone. “ _Did you really miss me?_ ”

Miranda was seeing a distant Hover-vehicle using headlights and taillights at a far road travelling as it turned at an intersection. She can recognize it was a white Hover-Taxi. “Yes. Mike too.” And she chuckled at little before she attempted to tell a story. Before doing that however, a sudden flash from an explosion came to her sight just before she saw flames engulf the Hover-Taxi, making it slide and stop on the road. The sound of the explosion came half a second later while a minor force was felt through her senses. The shock made her look at the explosion and realized what happened before she check in with Harold. “Dad? You there?!” And she waited a little while looking at the distant flames over the wrecked Hover-Taxi. This was also when she heard from the phone that the call had been disconnected. “No… No, Dad…! DAD!!!”

Several moments passed as Miranda was running on the road. She dulls out the sound of her mother calling on her just to rush to the same road that Hover-Taxi was. So many questions were on her mind… like what happened to the car that exploded. She also feared something else… the safety of her father.

The moment she finally turned to the road where the vehicle exploded, she was able to see the orange to yellow flames fully engulfing it the smoke was large. There were a few people near houses who stepped out just to see the car on fire. Several were scared of what happened they even decided to go back to their houses while others stayed to see if there’s anything new. One of the bystanders even decided to use his smart phone to call authorities immediately.

Miranda ran to the vehicle on fire. She even shouted once again calling her father just before the car made a small explosion. She was just at car-distance and the explosion made her shield herself with her arm in the force that somehow pushed her a little. She looked right at the vehicle standing there in shock, and realized that no one can live after an explosion that kills its passengers. As she tried to deny it what’s in her mind, she got on her knees after her legs buckled. Then she tried to deny it more putting her hands on the asphalt road, and told herself this isn’t happening. She shook her head, not believing it at all.

It was hours later however, the police were at the Pierce Residence. Two of the policemen were talking right at Hilda who was crying out loud, while 12-year old Michael was watching her already in tears after finding out what happened. He ran straight to a corner in the house while he sat down tucked to his legs and cried by himself.

“You’ve got to tell me!!!” Miranda shouted at a detective who was near the crime scene. By this time the car’s flames had already been extinguished and a police line was surrounding the area. Red Fire Department patrol pickups were already starting to leave since the flames were already put out.

As Miranda kept pushing the detective, he said the same reply as before. “Miss, ya gotta wait for the results. I already made a call on the taxi company on the footage in the cab.” He said this just as his phone started to ring. He put on a Bluetooth earpiece on his left ear and answered the call. “Yeah?” And it took a while on the pause just before he winced in surprise. “Wait, what? What do you mean it’s tampered?! Pixilated?! Load of bull, Nix! If ya get an image-enhancer maybe we could-! No, you’re gonna go through at it again! Ya hear me?! Ask them again!!!” He pushed a button on his earpiece ending the call. “Damn it…”

“Well?” Miranda asked, very impatient. “What did they say?”

“The same cab company this taxi was operating under said the footage was largely pixilated, mostly focused on the passenger. Our image enhancer at the station usually can’t beat a live-record pixilation process. It’ll take days or weeks to get it done…” The detective’s voice trailed off to the end of his sentence just before she glared at by Miranda. “Miss Pierce, right? Listen… You’ll be the first to know what’s happening-”

“Get my mom to know too… I…” Miranda tried to reply straight but lowered her head. “I just have to know if the body’s really my father’s. Please… We need to know.”

“Like I said… You’ll be the first to know if anything changes. Excuse me.” He then went to another spot of the crime leaving Miranda alone.

As she saw two burnt bodies being carried using hover-stretchers into the coroner vehicles, she shed a tear knowing she can’t even find out if the passenger’s body was Harold’s. It took however a day later for the bodies to be analyzed and given at least definitive appearances with less parts of ash left. The Pierce family was immediately called to attention. They looked straight into the eyes of the Chief Medical Examiner of the police department while in the morgue. And they both know he was not lying when he said it: One of the bodies was indeed Harold Pierce’s body.

Hilda was the very first to at least see Harold’s body off the cover with his face partially recognizable, with other parts burnt out and his flesh given chunks, proving the explosion had penetrated his flesh. The examiner also mentioned things like concentrated radiation that happened microseconds when the shrapnel from the vehicle penetrated both the driver and passengers’ bodies. That caught Miranda’s attention for a while…

**_8 days after the death of Harold Pierce…_ **

**_November 24, 2119…_ **

**_Weather... Good..._ **

**_1328 hours..._ **

Miranda’s eyes had closed and were opened again when she was looking down at newly placed dirt in front of her. She was in a cemetery while there were tombstones around her… She could only hear the wind around her and felt alone. It felt different to her to actually lose a loved one, and one who’s especially in a good level of understanding with her. Harold and Miranda were close for as long as it lasted. She would remember in her memories that he’d show her pictures of fossils. She’d answer easily since she knows the history of life. Her intellect was something the family always knew ever since her controversy at birth…

Sighing as she looked at the new patch of dirt, she remembered that there was a funeral there. She would image herself looking at Hilda crying while the casket was being lowered at the spot. Michael was there wiping his tears while being beside her and even tried to hold back his tears. Miranda knew however she wasn’t like Michael and was torn up inside at those moments. And as the image of the funeral faded, Miranda knew she can’t do anything about but move on.

It would change by a single phone call, however. Miranda’s smart phone was ringing. That was the moment she knew it would make her snap. Instead of being calm, she became frustrated and was even quick to take the phone out of her pocket just before sliding on the screen and putting it on the ear.

“Whoever this is,” Miranda stated first. “…I want ya to call back and not disturb me.” She paused for a while, eventually calming herself while she was at it. “I hope you heard me.”

“ _I can,_ ” a male voice spoke on the other line with an English accent. “ _This is Mister Tyron. Miss Miranda Pierce? It’s good to finally speak with you._ ”

“I don’t have time for-”

“ _I think you could dedicate your next few minutes with what I’m about to tell you, Miss Pierce._ ” The man on the other line chuckled, and chuckled louder clearly for her to hear it. “ _I have kidnapped your mother Hilda, and your brother Michael. I thought they would be nice if they cooperated, but I also expected them both to be resistant. They’re a good bunch, I say._ ”

Miranda’s emotions changed from surprise, to shock, to anger as the man spoke. She felt as if he was leaving his voice of sincerity to a tone of scheming. In only a few sentences in, she was ready to jump in. And just as he paused, she gritted her teeth before speaking up. “Where…? WHERE ARE THEY?!”

“ _That’s a good question,_ ” he replied. “ _But know they are safe. Even if you try to confirm, you wouldn’t be able to find them anywhere._

“ _This will be how it will works. Listen carefully. You might even save their lives if you are careful with your next move. You already lost one family member. The bomb wasn’t premature, which was what we’re glad to hear. But still, we do not celebrate the death of another. It is a serious matter to us._ ”

“You bastard… You- you dare!!!”

“ _Yes. For we indeed have reason. Now… if you’re ready to proceed to my instructions, you can stop feeling bad about all this. You grit your teeth aware you can’t see us. But we can see you, quite clearly. It’s not your fault. This… is nothing personal._

“ _You move straight to the authorities, or even ask assistance at your relatives or the authorities, your family, I promise you, will appear right at the center of a very public place with them both bleeding to death, or dead if you make the situation uglier than it is now. You’re standing in front of your dead father. Do you want to make me look convincing more? Or should I keep torturing you with my words?_ ”

Miranda knew she can’t just refuse him. Her emotions were starting to betray her true judgment. But how deep does this rabbit hole go? She didn’t want to know. How did her mother and her brother get kidnapped so easily? They were heading back home five minutes ago, and it’s a long drive there.

Then it hit her.

_That time I actually had that feeling that Mom used the wrong driver. I argued a little that the driver’s firm the driver had worked for wasn’t the best. And if not the best, they had an expert for making other’s disappear. Jester Wheel, the name of the firm, once had a wheelman who made a senator disappear. The same senator was found dead in a warehouse at the southwest corner of Los Angeles. Eventually, the firm denied they had that driver and they were acquitted anyway. It was because the firm was very dependable. The court took it too high on a Federal case for the investigation but it was never finished. Could it be?!_

Miranda sighed, knowing she shouldn’t push her luck and spoke up. “The driver of the limousine… was he also responsible for Senator Chance’s disappearance a year ago?”

The man named Mister Tyron chuckled on the other line. “ _You’re very perceptive, Miss Pierce. You catch things well._ ”

“Using a wheelman who also made a politician disappear… I thought it’s just a plot to remove him permanently.”

“ _Every move has its own agenda. His time had to be cut short because of how he turned his back on your father while sponsoring the research for reviving reproduction._ ”

“Wait… Whose side are you on?! Against or with my father?!”

“ _Neither. See… Chance is a politician, while your father is an opportunist through science. The two only share one thing in common and it’s not because of their alliance, I can tell you that. You can figure out the rest for yourself if you look into their lives more._

“ _Now I think we wasted enough time._ ”

“I don’t trust you.”

“ _I don’t expect you to, Miss Pierce. Because you have no other choice,_ ” he replied.

_For one thing, the only reason why he had me standing still was because he was right. He can’t be alone. There’s more at his side. And if I’m right, he’s got hackers… lots of hackers. That’s the only way he could have been able to get through our private channels, and even pierce our cyber-security… They had it all, and used it on us._

_Now my family’s in danger but so am I. I believed it was only the beginning. And I hate myself to be right for back then... This was different. This was something I can’t return with a normal life to. The moments that came after that, are what changed the rest of my life…_


	2. Sea Of Memories

**_Miranda_ ** _– I thought I knew everything there is to know besides that crooked driver. It seemed what I knew then wasn’t as it is in the surface. Why use the same driver who drove for Senator Chance to get Mom to drive for her and Michael? Maybe it’s just good marketing skills? I doubt it. There’s something unique as to how Mom was convinced. I can name many ways then, but I can’t assume. All that matters is that our family is in danger._

**_November 24, 2119…_ **

**_Weather... Good..._ **

**_1335 hours... Santa Monica National Cemetery…_ **

Walking across the length of the cemetery, all Miranda was feeling was anxiety. If the loss her father wasn’t enough, she was simply walking off only to follow a set of instructions this “Mister Tyron” told her to do, or the rest of her family will next be seen as corpses. She might not be taking chances now, but she’s not going to allow herself to submit.

After taking a while to finally get a distance from the graves, she was able to see a road meant for the cemetery. Just nearby, a black Hover-Limousine was waiting. The driver was wearing a black vest and wearing aviators on his eyes. Having dark brown hair with silver highlights on his bangs out of his crew-cut hairstyle, he wasn’t fooling anyone of his age in his forties. But he looked stunning and was seemingly younger. He lowered his aviators seeing Miranda walk toward him. And he smirked right at her.

Miranda caught the smirk and glared right at the driver. She then stopped just a few feet from him and kept her glare at him. “You’re him.”

The driver chuckled. “I like being direct, especially when I’m given compensation,” he spoke as purely American. “Call me Harry.”

“Except that’s not your name.” Miranda then observed him and the limousine before looking at his blue eyes. “The same driver who drove for Senator Chance and the same driver who was hired by Mom… You bastard.”

“Hey,” he said with a smile. “I like to make a good impression. I’m the only one who’s ever been in a good cover ever since a year ago. And these ‘Jester Wheel’ nut-jobs don’t know how to increase their security. It’s their loss, really. Not that it matters to me any further. This is my last job before retirement.” He then equipped a pistol that looked like a Five-Seven and he promptly aimed it at her. “Now… I think you were told to get in the back.”

And Miranda narrowed her eyes on him. She felt she didn’t want to, but the instructions she was given proves that her captors are keeping tabs on her. “ _This whole time, the tracking they’ve done at every gadget I’ve used… It’s common sense… It’s the easiest to track,_ ” she thought. “ _How they hacked the network security is the question. Hm…_ ”

Without any other doubt in herself, she went to the rear doors of the limousine and the nearest door to the left opened up by itself. Getting in at the back of the limousine and taking a seat on one of the two chairs there, the door closed. The doors of the limousine were locked and she expected the vehicle would drive away. Feeling the Hover-Limo start its engine with vibrations, she later acknowledged its forward movement. She looked around the limousine and she can tell the windows were clear to look at. As she remembered however, the windows were tinted from the outside. “ _Clever,_ ” she thought.

A glass filled with ice and a drink that’s greenish in color was at a nearby mini-table at the middle of the two long chairs. She sighed at this, remembering what one of the instructions was to take a drink and make sure she ingests all of it. Then she feels and sees the limousine stop and looks outside. She noticed the Hover-Limo was still on one of the roads of the cemetery grounds. She took this as a sign and made sure to look at the drink before reaching on with one hand. Picking up the glass filled with the drink, she looked at it. It really looked like the drink was innocent. But she imagined it really wasn’t and it could do things to her body. Still, she can’t refuse in taking it. Awareness that limousines can sometimes be fitted with micro-cameras gave her all the more reason. So she neared the glass she held to her face and took a rim’s edge of the glass to her mouth before she started to gulp down the drink. It took a few seconds before she was able to finish the drink, feeling a little intoxicating and it was more bearable thanks to the drink being cooled with the ice. Putting the glass down on the mini-table, she felt herself start to breathe a little hard just before her head starts to feel light and her eyes were getting heavy. Losing consciousness, she knew how this would play out. “ _I want to save you both,_ ” she thought just before she relaxed herself and fell to the leather seat of the chair and eventually falling unconscious.

**_ERROR loading time… Location unknown…_ **

_I didn’t know that time that when I was unconscious, I was actually travelling through my memories. They were very vivid and clear. And the very first memory was when I was that student…_

_The college institution I went to was St. Mary Guerrera’s University. The name may not look like much and it might have its religious roots, but it also served as the one of the top institutions producing students that are based on natural life elements, pertaining to those graduates who have extensive knowledge of specific forms of life, and how to produce them. In short, most of the students there aim to be experts in life production, and researchers in the fields of the branches of biological fields, with botany as one of them._

_It was stressful back then since I first got there, but it was later becoming light. I was showing my true potential and I wasn’t holding back. Dad used to tell me not to be afraid._

_I was afraid once since my intellect is high that others would laugh at me. It happened a few times six years prior when I attempted to finish off a difficult quiz bee in a bang, answering questions in relation to life and linking it to the Theory of Relativity. Calculations worth of a solution took almost an hour before I finished it. The others in the quiz bee took only 30 minutes without analyzing their own solutions thinking it’s the correct answer. From after I won that quiz bee in the succeeding years, anyone in my age group who claims and boasts to be my equal snobs at me first before losing, even gaining me more enemies. Pointless, but it formed my fears. But… it did not stop me from moving forward. Dad told me and I believed, that life by itself although beautiful should not drag me down given that I should not judge it. By the simple logic, I didn’t care who wanted to snob at me even at present. I just wanted to learn… and teach. The credit given to me back then was just as good as it was when I was attending the college at a very young age…_

_Maybe I’d tell how my high intellect came to be, but I’ll leave that detail for another time._

_What mattered to me there while I was swimming in my sea of memories was that I saw two people who have the knack of understanding my emotions behind my smarts… Jack and Millie. Millie Evans was the first I’d meet, and she’s a Botany Major. Jack Charlaton was more of a branching expert whose focus is related to the human stimulus, meaning he’s an anatomist and wants to be a doctor someday. The focus of his usually favorite subject to experiment in stimulus: It’s specific to primarily as he started: intoxication. He even experiments himself drinking just to try reaching a conclusion, but usually falls right asleep, making me laugh a little when I remember. The two are only few in my age group who attends college at a younger age than usual. The others are ranging 17 to 19 years old just to learn in that university._

_The last set of memories I see are my parents… sometimes arguing. When I see them usually talk about the future, Dad’s the type who pushes forward with what he believes in, and Mom supports him, while she also has her preferences in the home. They talk about me, and Michael who they’re still taking care of. And I could sometimes see and hear Dad trying to make a point. We all understood he’s the man of the house, but he can sometimes get a little annoying since he insisted he be right. And what is their usual subject that ticks him off? House management… meaning it includes cleaning and asking the welfare of the children. It’s become routine but they both get around easily at each conversation. Mom and Dad are really tight. It makes me smile to think they reach an agreement._

_Then… darkness. My sea of memories ended. How long has it passed? Then I feel my eyes physically moving._

Echoes of a man calling her began to be heard. Miranda felt numb and couldn’t move and only her face began to stir into consciousness. Soon, she slowly opened her eyes. She felt that brightness seeped in too much with the yellow light she saw, forcing her to close them. She noticed her head was pointing up, so she slowly lowered her head and felt it was leveled with her body.

“ _Hello dear,_ ” said a man’s voice in an American accent who seemed to be directly in front of Miranda. “ _I see you’ve awakened._ ”

Miranda moaned in pain realizing a small headache formed on her. She slowly opened her eyes to make sure she adjusts her sight. The first thing she sees was an individual wearing a white theme of clothing while in more of a sea of white. Her blurry sight adjusts and she realizes the person in front of her looked liked a scientist, but not wearing a lab coat but a lab uniform, currently-efficient attire for scientists. The room she was in looked like a white isolation chamber. She noticed a table nearby with several apparatus usually used for scanning and detecting anomalies in living bodies. Then she looked back at the scientist. “Should I ask what I’m doing here?”

The scientist smiled, adjusting his glasses. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, had blonde hair, and was smug about her predicament, witnessing her strapped to a surgical table with energy restraints holding her arms, legs and loosely on her neck. What he liked about it however is that she had no clothing on at all, making him smile wickedly at her. “I liked it better if you asked… ‘What should I feel?’ You… should feel welcome, because this… is my house.

“So… welcome,” he simply said. And Miranda instantly became anxious of what he meant.

_I knew then it was going to be a long moment with him…_


	3. A creation is born (part 1)

 “A creation is born (part 1)”

**_Miranda_ ** _– I looked at him… straight at him. I knew I felt my skin was a little cold. There wasn’t anything I could do at this point, but it felt embarrassing. He’s looking at me bare while I’m being held to that surgical table of sorts, but I had a feeling it can be adjusted._

_All however I felt was high suspicion of the man in front of me. He kept his smug face and I hate it. I only wish I could… Well… I’m not one to say unless I mean it._

Miranda blushed a little while aware that she’s nude while tied to the surgical table with energy restraints. The table was angled towards the scientist who was talking to her. She eventually got the courage to ask. “So what’s your name?”

The blonde scientist chuckles before answering. “I’m called by my colleagues ‘Pins’. It’s probably because I like sharp things like what needles are. Now… if we’re done talking, I’d like us to proceed to our other matter.”

“Where’s my family,” she interrupted with a question. “Where are they?”

Pins snorted almost silently when he was asked. “Well… Mister Tyron was sure to have left me word, but not in detail. He said if you were going to ask, he wanted to tell you, that I wouldn’t be told anything. And… he meant it. I’m not to know and it feels… healthy. Being kept me in the dark is annoying to me, but it’s for the best.” His answer didn’t make a good impression on Miranda and she moved jerkily struggling to get herself off her restraints. He heard her deny what he said and can sense her anger. “Careful, Miss Pierce. Anger will do you no good, even if it’s a very beautiful thing to handle.”

Miranda knew her anger rose but she didn’t care. Her teeth grits in her thoughts… the worst of it especially when she heard Pins appreciated being kept in the dark. “You… are insane. I’d rather not speak too much, but it’s unbearable. You… are a monster.”

“Me? Who’s speaking out about it? No one spoke out about it except your father. See… My father was the one who perfected the art of augmentation and cloning. As soon as he died, your ‘father’ began to build the deep research to restore reproduction. Excuse me?! That is old as us, but it diminishes through the years! Or maybe he forgot. I’m just one of the few who think that the reproduction research is nothing but a distraction. Are we going to risk diseases to enter into our lives? The general community already acknowledged that the reproduction, as it went on, kept being dangerous. Yet… some of us just like to keep going even against advisement. That’s how I started to hate your family, Miss Pierce. The family’s father killed mine.” Pins explained that to her and smirked. “Now this… This will be a success.”

“What will be a success?” Miranda asked just before the surgical table started to shake a little before it was angling itself slowly as the side her head was is being lowered while her feet are being brought out to incline. Slowly, the table eventually reaches its lying position just before a glass starts to materialize from the sides and quickly builds up until an oval barrier was able to envelop her inside. She was still being restrained just as she heard something seeping in. “ _Is that… What gas is that?_ ” Her thoughts were beginning to make her feel anxious.

Pins then spoke up for Miranda who could be heard outside the capsule that was made in front of him. “ _That my friend is just regular air. See… the table or should I say the capsule you are in is going to build up water. Here is what’s going to happen. You see… we have a precious metal that we’d like to integrate into yours. This kind of metal is said to be alive in a sense. It doesn’t have its own intelligence yet, so we thought of putting it for the first time into our first test subject._ ”

Miranda winced at that and wanted to get out of it. “No… No, please!!! This-! WHAT IS THIS?!!!”

“ _Relax. You’ll be feeling fine after you feel the pain and I can acknowledge it can be chaotic. All you have to do… is clear your mind as best you can._ ” Pins said this just before Miranda was feeling her eyes were getting heavier.

_Again, I was being gassed again to sleep. I didn’t want it, but I knew I can’t fight my way out of it. I felt… helpless. I never felt so helpless in my life that I’d even think my family would never be safe. What’s happened to them, I wonder? I wouldn’t know that time… or never at all._

“ _Now,_ ” Pins spoke up. “ _I think you’ll take this properly._ ”

And Miranda’s consciousness was lost, letting her close her eyes in the process. An oxygen mask was being put on her by some mechanical arms and made sure was strapped on her tightly. The hose that led to the capsule’s oxygen supply started to supply her with what was needed for her to breathe. And soon, she started to breathe the oxygen into her body. Soon, water was starting to pour in from four sides. As her skin made contact with the water, it started to experience shivered skin, signaling she was being surprised with the cold temperature and her body slowly adapted. The water built up quickly and soon her head was wet and her hair freely flowed into it. Soon, her face along with the rest of her body was submerged into the cold water. As the capsule fills up with water, she breathes normally.

Until just later, she didn’t know what would happen to her. It was total darkness. Miranda opens her eyes and experiences falling onto a floor that was colored with a rainbow. As she impacted on the ground, she felt herself bounce instead of coming down hard. As the momentum stopped, she felt the gravity just before she got on her knees to get her bearings.

Then the pain started. Her wrist started to hurt and she couldn’t close her hand while she screamed in pain. She loudly asked herself what it was, but she was only answered with more pain, now climbing to the rest of her arm before her torso got hurt. The pain was so unbearable that she collapsed to the ground. And she kept screaming, now starting to shed tears from her eyes.

Meanwhile an image of someone’s skeleton structure is put up on a monitor that Pins is currently observing. He can see a yellow-ish form of metal start to enter the body just before it integrates itself to the skeletal system, which first started from her arms and now up to her torso and spreading. He was in a separate room together with other scientists in the room where the capsule is in was filled with workers who are maintaining the capsule and observing the test subject herself. Miranda’s body was shaking while still stabilized with her hands and feet tied with energy restraints.

Miranda screamed and opened her eyes showing her pupils are dark and her irises are golden yellow while shaped into a round inter-connection of tiny chains.

_I didn’t understand it at first, but this thing that entered into me was getting in me faster than I thought. It invaded my bones, and my muscular system. Soon, it definitely hurt when it also started to enter my brain. But… it didn’t destroy my brain… For some reason, I can see my memories better, much clearer to me that I even remember some of the things I forgot. This could have gone differently, but it wasn’t luck that saved me. I needed more than that._

And she felt her body was weakening for a moment that she let herself collapse while she was on her back. She panted, feeling herself shake a little as her muscular and skeletal system was being reconfigured with this strange invading chemical or mineral.

_The pain at the brain felt very hot, but it was calming me down afterwards. I feel what’s being inserted in me isn’t a drug. If it was, it shouldn’t make my skeletal framework stiff. That’s what I’m sensing in myself. My muscles for some reason are okay. Everything else… is changing by the second. And soon…_

Miranda starts to lose herself to sleep. It only took a few seconds before her eyes were opened again. This time while standing in the darkness of the void and while recognizing herself standing on an invisible floor, someone else was there. The humanoid figure however was shocking for her to look at, seeing that the first thing she recognizes was the golden-yellow tiny inter-locked chains that were moving on the surface which made shell or the skin of this humanoid. From what Miranda could tell, this humanoid seemed female in nature, now walking towards Miranda. The humanoid’s whole body was covered with what’s described and even its head was bald. Its eyes show a color blue while facial features were peculiarly, Miranda’s. This to her became unsettling.

And Miranda saw the humanoid stop in front of her a few feet away. She wanted to step back, but the humanoid held out her arm and hand. “Please,” the humanoid said in a monotone voice. “Don’t be afraid.”

“Why shouldn’t I be?! I could already tell your body’s not natural!”

“But logically it’s not a crime,” the humanoid responded to Miranda. This humanoid had no emotion to show. “This is how I was made, and how I now appear to you. Is that wrong?”

“It’s not, but… What are you? And why do you have my face?”

“I shouldn’t be asked that question for you know the obvious.” The humanoid replied before pausing just before it continued. “I am you, in a sense without emotion and only with logic existent. How your brain is able to separate you and I seemed to have something to do with your high fibroblast count focused at your brain.”

Miranda sighed at what the humanoid said. “Catalysts of fibroblast were injected into me since I had a rare brain disease back then. And when the element itself is beginning to repair my brain tissue, it was known later on that even the disease that made the damage in my brain was burned out as well. It would seem some parts of the horrible disease was too weak and eventually got drafted into my brain’s tissue for it to be converted as part of my body.”

“It’s intriguing indeed,” the humanoid said. “I heard that the scientists called you ‘GX’. But your name is Miranda Pierce. Illogical. You may call me GX if you prefer.”

“Tch. Not that it matters. I’ll never be able to get loose of the capsule. They got me tied with energy binds.”

“That’s what you think,” GX replied. “A certain metal waiting for intelligence was injected to you. And somehow, my intelligence was formed out of your mind that contracted the metal quickly. Though… it doesn’t mean we can both control your body at the same time.”

Miranda winced at that and knew what GX was talked about. “You could control my body or you could control mine. Wait… for what?!”

“Don’t you want to leave the capsule? It’s illogical they’d let you go with what they’ve achieved. Statistically speaking, there’s more chance they would wipe your memory to keep you contained.” As GX spoke of this, Miranda felt saddened.

She had one grim idea in mind. “If I’m the one to take control, I’m really going on that dark road… Are you saying we can break out of that capsule?”

“Yes. Your nails at this time are permanently gold-colored because of what we’ve become to be. They’re composed of the metals that were inserted to us. We can use the metal and extend it out like they… were veins.” GX simply put its hand to its face before an extension of gold-yellow metal was coming out of the fingertips. “You can split the object, as well as curve it as well. Based on what we are… we should be technologically equaled to that of the capsule.” On what GX said about how the extended metal can be manipulated, the metal is able to be split into smaller branches. And it was even demonstrated it can be curved well.

This convinced Miranda and nodded at what GX explained. “Okay. I… think I know what to do.”

“Of course. It’s your instinct that counts, and you just have to think it if you want to make it happen. Hacking the network is your first task. And as you desire, you can escape the facility. There is one thing however that I don’t understand.” GX paused to process her question and eventually came up with it. “Why didn’t you decide that I’ll take over for you? Your emotions might hinder your performance.”

Miranda thought of this and was sure of it herself. “My father was killed and it made me devastated. Anger and sadness still looms. It doesn’t go away for a while. That said, I also know that emotions also influence action. I’ll be sure to be careful.”

“Your personality says so. But I’ll do my part to try limiting the emotions you express. You’ll still feel everything. You’ll just be negated on the outside.” As GX explained, a tremor was felt. “You felt it.”

“Yeah. It’s time,” Miranda replied before closing her eyes. “Wish me luck.”

“What is luck?” GX asked, just before the world they’re in fades in a blur…

As Miranda was stirring awake, she was careful of not alerting anyone scanning the capsule even keeping her eyes closed. She still felt herself submerged underwater, wearing an oxygen mask covering her nose and mouth. Her energy restraints were still active. She pointed her toes towards the capsule, even making sure they’re focused on the direction before the metal extension started to come out of her nails. The extensions quickly branched out into branches. And as the branches got smaller, they were small enough to fit through a very tight capsule opening. The branches were then quick to maneuver in the capsule’s systems. And soon, they were able to access its motherboard…

_Unlike before, I can sense so much more, like there were tiny cameras on my skin. My own extensions are doing just the same. As soon as my ‘babies’, as what I’d easily prefer, were doing the job of force-accessing the capsule’s motherboard, the sirens from outside the capsule rang. They know what I’m up to. Time was of the essence._

Then she was able to initiate the hack. With her very quick processing, she was able to access the security modules and sees the option to disable the restraints. But before she did so, she was able to access the room network’s data-stream. She smirked at this, knowing if she does this, she could start a scare. With no doubt in her mind, she breaches the data-stream. The sirens in the room abruptly stopped. The lights stopped working in the room as well, only

At the room Pins was in, the monitoring was intense. Actually spotting the metallic branches pierce into the capsule’s systems startled him, but he remained this whole time to observe. Then the lights went out inside the capsule room and the monitor to that capsule and to Miranda’s anatomy had stopped working. She speakers in the room then started emitting sound… of Miranda’s voice. “ _Pins… You will come to terms with what you’ve done to me,_ ” she said in a low-key tone with her voice almost monotone. “ _Ah… Jeffrey Tide. That’s your name. I can literally see everything in the network you have._ ”

Pins snorted knowing even his own information can be tracked. “So now you know. Are you going to kill me?”

“ _You will tell me what you know, even if I can just get the data from the stream. I only want to experience hurting you for what your people have done to me. Because… I will._ ” Miranda’s voice was one with slight anger even with her seemingly calm demeanor. The sound cuts off. And Miranda opens her eyes before the restraints no longer emitted energy, immediately releasing her. The mask was also removed from her face just before the water quickly drained out of the capsule…

The people working outside the capsule, the scientists wearing silver suits, were terrified and they started to leave the room. They couldn’t, however. The sliding doors were not working. There were seven of them and they were all trying to focus their efforts trying to pull the door open. Their efforts were in vain however.

“ _Time for the meat grinder to start,_ ” Miranda thought. At will, she commanded the capsule the angle itself back to a standing position. And the capsule eventually opens letting the water out. Her eyes open, showing her gold chain-link irises. As soon as the capsule was fully open with the water pouring out and angled for her to stand. She looks at the scared scientists, now standing still in fear of her. She steps out of the capsule first landing with her bare toes before slowly letting her heels touch the floor at each foot. “ _Even the feel for my movements feel a little different,_ ” she thought. Then the next thing she looked at was her hands, focusing her eyes on her nails now golden-yellow in color. Contemplating for a bit, she then looked at the scientists.

One of the scientists felt curious instead of fear and tried to step forward. His other colleagues warned him not to.

But Miranda spoke afterwards. “Fearing the outcome?” she asked.

_I felt my voice as if it was eternally calm. My emotions... They are negated by half, so showing them would be harder. But inside… I feel everything. I just can’t express it. This matter helps me. I’m about to do something I’d never forget._

Miranda looked at the scientist who stepped forward but stopped as soon as she spoke, now assumed to think of the worst. But Miranda had something else in mind. “Step beside me if you really want to be spared,” she said. And the scientist simply nods in response. She heard her other colleagues call out to him, but he ignored them. Miranda felt surprised of this. “ _It would seem he didn’t care. But I won’t bore him._ ” She then looked at the other scientists now fearing the worst. She briefly smirked but quickly put on a neutral face again. “The rest of you… You’ll all be in the meat grinder.”

_This would be my chance… to examine their biology… physically._

Then she raised her arm and hand to one of the scientists, aimed her fingers at him just before metallic extensions with interweaving chains layered in tiny strands like hair came out of her fingernails. The strands were on top of each other making the thickness like her fingers. Their material however is not to be underestimated.

Miranda commanded three of her fingers release her extensions before in half a second it pierces the scientist’s heart, then both of his eyes. He shook for a few seconds just before it went totally limp.

_And so, it began…_

She then willed her extensions to throw the dead corpse onto three scientists grouped together with questionable force. Quickly retracting her extensions as the corpse crashed on the scientists while on their backs, she walks up to them and puts both hands forward.

_They worked for…_

Sharpened extensions came out from her fingernails, instantly killing the scientists while they were aimed at their eyes and their hearts before she pierced at them with incredible speed…

_…the people who killed my father. They made my family suffer… They made me suffer more._

Miranda felt a minor pain but didn’t emit a whine for it while her head briefly leaned forward. She slowly raised it and turned her head to the scientist at arm’s length holding a baton. He then dropped it. She lowers her brows to express her rage. “Futile,” she muttered. She suddenly held his neck with her free hand and raised him off the ground. Within seconds of him trying to struggle, she was able to harden her grip at him before his neck snapped and his body went limp, lifeless. She gently pushed it off her and it was thrown towards the remaining two scientists who avoided the corpse. Retracting her extensions, she half-glared at them and walked casually at them while tilting her head. “What’s wrong?” she asked in a creepily calm voice. “Don’t you play with your experiments too?”

The remaining scientist who was spared was at one corner, terrified at what the girl was doing. The last two scientists were together and they were at the other corner. She was seen suddenly running at the two and made fists with her hands. The two scientists briefly screamed in fear before they saw her fists, and it was worse when they instantly died when her fists penetrated their heads, even letting her punch hit the walls. A short paused happened before she forcefully pulled both of her fists out and the bodies fell to the ground, leaving blood stains on the walls.

And he knew fear when he sat on the corner and attempted to crawl somewhere else, when she suddenly looked his way with a glare. He was stopped thanks to his own fear.

Miranda casually walks at him, measuring his own resolve. He had none. And she saw it in his eyes, now scared to the bone.

_I could tell I already got him. He’ll tell me what I need to know, even if I was able to extract data I need. This is something else._

She stopped just a foot away from his face looking curiously before she bent down. Placing her hands at his hair, she gently stroked him before she spoke. “Was Jeffrey Tide a close colleague to you?” She waited for his answer, but he felt he was so traumatized that he couldn’t. She then spoke while telling him his surname from the last hack she made. “It’s okay, Mister Vaughn. You can tell me. Your life is not forfeit unless you decide that.”

And the scientist was able to speak out, while his voice shook in his fear. “H-He… He works us to- to death… But… But… I know for a fact he- he was paid by a mystery o- org- organization. We weren’t- We weren’t told anything at all! I swear!”

“ _Mister Tyron represents a mystery organization?_ ” _I thought about this well and this might go deeper. Finding Pins’ bosses will not be so easy after all. And if Pins is smart, he’d wipe the memory of every hard data here._

Then Miranda asked further. “I assume he’ll run if the facility is compromised,” she said.

“Y-yeah… P-p-p-please! Please let me go…!” The scientist said this begging at her.

_Another decision to make. Spare him… or leave him be to give him a second chance._

Miranda chooses the diplomatic approach. “You’ll be warned right now. If you decide to run, this problem will never go away. If you must… Just come clean at whoever rescues you.”

Then the scientist was surprised and he looked at her. “B-But what about you?!! They’ll know I’m lying anyway! Please…! Just let this be and end me too!!! If you really want this clean- I… I know your name!”

_Once again, another decision must be made. He has a point. If I kill him now, nobody would know about me. But if I spare him, he’ll tell._

Miranda lightly sighs and looks at him with a glare. “You’re stubborn aren’t you?” She then stands up and looks at him surprised. “I’m not changing my decision. I chose this bloody path myself.

“These men behind me,” she said while looking past her shoulder to her left then, “are only the beginning,” before briefly looking back at him. She then turned her back on him before walking at the door. “Use your life well, lucky bastard. Have a future for yourself.”

The scientist panted and looked away and just made sure to calm himself down. He heard the door to the room suddenly blasted out after a few punches, acknowledging it was Miranda who did it. He tried to question what he’s done up to this incident. Once again, his trauma made him close his eyes and grit his teeth.

Miranda was in a hallway, brightly lit while she heard a distant siren ring over the facility. It was the same with the other room’s appearance, with white technological tiles on the floor and walls. She then ran to one direction knowing her next objective.

_He can’t escape. If Pins really is the only connection I have to Tyron, he can’t be allowed to escape. I’ll show him what he’s made… I’ll show him exactly what his creation his._


	4. A creation is born (part 2)

**_Miranda_ ** _– I noticed something when it came to killing the scientists in that room before. They were all physically augmented in a way. But since they’re not experienced in a fight, their own fear became their own downfall. Maybe I should try that routine again?_

_No. I want to make sure to give others a fight at least. After all… I was going to initiate genocide._

Opening her eyes slowly, Miranda could tell she was one in the hallways of that facility. But unlike before when she knows the walls and the floor were filled with colors of white and gray, it’s now stained with splatters of blood right at them. She saw bodies that were on the floor beheaded. Some even have guts sprayed all over the wall mixed with internal organs of several types.

Closing Miranda’s eyes, she was able to see GX in that void that was empty and glared right at her. She wasn’t happy about the bodies. “You did too much, GX. Giving you control… It was a mistake. Heck… You never even gave them a chance to fight.”

GX looked at Miranda wincing in surprise before she spoke but remained neutral. “It seems you weren’t satisfied with what I’ve done.”

“It’s not that I’m not satisfied. They’re out of the way, which is given. But evaluating their nature first before attacking is key to developing ourselves. There’s enough reflex and speed-processing in what we are that can do that.” Miranda looked away from GX in annoyance. “Now what to do-?” she muttered to herself.

GX responds first before Miranda could come up with an idea. “You could try deactivating me… permanently, or ban my intelligence. You… can have it yourself. No consequence comes from eliminating me from the equation, just that you will be on your own, and alone in your own devices.”

For that, Miranda looked back at GX in concern. “You’re aware of it, yet you’re giving me the option? Doesn’t that worry you?”

“No. You’re the one who started my development, even if I was forced into your body in the first place. You still have that right and privilege. But know that whatever your decision is will take hold. If you really decide to keep me, my intelligence will, slowly, evolve into a consciousness. And you know how that will be in the future.” GX half-glared at Miranda. “It will be harder to turn me down and erase me.”

_She had a point. Well… I wanted to appreciate her gender this time. But other than that… Her logic makes me think well. Is she really an Artificial Intelligence that slowly evolves into a consciousness? Is that really possible with the Sy-Tren’s AI? I realized I had to look more into this matter. We had limited AI back then, but it never really evolved, but only adapted to the needs and wants of others, and acted like a servant. Androids evolved in a way that they’ve become intelligent beings, but this is different. An AI attached to a personality while the AI is also alien is another subject. Some things I missed would happen to me as GX does evolve._

Miranda nodded after thinking about it for a while. “I understand. But until I know what to do with you, I’ll be taking over most of the time. If I can nurture your services in doing things slowly, we can surely develop not only your fighting but also your judgments after your analysis of targets. In a way we could both be terrifying while you give me your point of view.”

“Are you saying you believe in what I said?” GX looked meaningfully at Miranda when she asked.

“Yes,” Miranda replied then, “and I believe it’s more believable if I put more effort in finding a true Sy-Tren metal. The ones in the museums aren’t always true. I want to start examining them further.”

“You’ll need assistance and I’m not enough for that. Someone who has more knowledge of ancient metals could have the answer.” GX looked up then back at Miranda. “You should come back to reality now than talk to me. It’s worthless.”

“I’m using lots of processing power that’s beyond time and you’re concerned of me? That’s awfully sweet.” Miranda smiled and closed her eyes. “I’ll take that into consideration, but I’m one for risks anyway. Thank you.”

GX raised an eyebrow on Miranda’s statement. “I have more to learn about you,” GX muttered.

Eventually, Miranda opened her eyes, leading her back to normal-time and at the same hallway where the corpses where. Looking down, she noticed she had blood stains on her body. She could always find a set of clothes for her to wear, but she could do better. However when she thought of certain things in her mind, she blushed, and panted slowly.

This made weakly smile before she walked on. “ _I’m going to make sure to make him pay,_ ” she thought to herself before she ran. She was aware of the facility's sirens, making her assume everyone is vigilant. Security reinforcements that were sent toward her way, she counted, was 38... all dead thanks to her and GX.

Encountering more security personnel she sprinted at them. There were four in her way holding rifles. They were wearing silver-colored tactical vests and helmets. One of them shouted at her to stop.

Then Miranda followed that instruction and slowed down before stopping to test their patience. " _Now to see what they'll do next. Their weapons are different. I'll see how I'll fare with them this time._ " This she thought knowing she has a plan of her own. They shouted orders that she turn around and put her hands on her head. Then she narrowed her eyes at them. "And what if I say no?" She asked this, and once again the same man who shouted his order repeated the instruction with a louder voice. This time, she's warned of getting shot if she doesn't comply. "I killed, and you should stop being diplomatic. I can no longer be saved... not by you." She quickly slid one leg back aiming her foot toward the floor and angled behind her before quickly releasing all her metallic extensions, with the strong force propelling her forward after retracting them. She flipped once and balanced her form in the air while she was shot at only for them to miss a few shots. Quickly growing her extensions from her hand, she extended and thrust them at the men's heads, instantly killing them off. She landed gracefully on the floor just in front of them before they all dropped dead to the floor, even relieving them of their weapons. Retracting them, she only noticed then her metal was able to pierce through their helmets.

She noticed she was shot at her chest and her arm. Her own Sy-Tren Biometal acted as her armor and it covered the spots that were hit. Soon, they were being slowly healed and the tissue for those spots were returning.

_It made me feel gratified. But I shouldn't be comfortable about this. Yet... It felt too good. I was shot and I was slowly being... repaired. There's nothing better than being healed with the use of my own properties. But I shouldn't feel invincible. There's more I still need to get used to._

And Miranda was faced with more opposition as she proceeded from there. Sentry guns being deployed on certain areas from the walls, the ceilings, or the floors were firing blue blaster bolts at "Bullet-Speed" which she's anticipating. Her mastery of the use of her curving metallic extensions was something she needed to take care of seriously. For the meantime, she was using her metallic extensions like whips in offense terms, making movement fluid for her. In defense terms, she needed to think of a way to shield herself. She doesn't have that concrete idea in mind for it yet, so for the meantime she used high-speed whipping to deflect rounds coming at her.

While being able to destroy sentry guns, she needed maneuvers two make sure she misleads some of them. Her body was able to detect metallic panels behind the walls. She uses that to her advantage. She sprints before she extends metallic extensions from one arm towards the wall before she quickly put both feet on the wall while her extensions briefly pulled her body up. While the sentry gun fired quick successions of blaster bolts she runs up higher while retracting her current extensions. A sentry gun on the wall was firing at her and she smirks while she runs at it narrowly evading the blaster bolts while she got dangerously near. But the sentry gun was slow on turning that it couldn’t hit her while she stopped close to it. The other sentry guns were misled and fired at the slow gun in question and it was easily destroyed. Miranda ran for it before jumping off the wall.

She was near enough at one of the sentry guns at the center hallway just as she quickly lengthened her extensions to gently touch and penetrate the sentry guns. Immediately as she was able to retract her extensions, the central sentry gun fired at its own. It was able to fire at one of the sentry guns before it was destroyed, but the controlled gun was then destroyed by another. Miranda was able to finally reach her extensions on the last sentry gun in the area, pulling it out of its base before rotating her body once, before giving her extensions a whip-momentum to slice it into fifths. The battle was over, only for then.

Eventually standing down and retracting her extensions. She proceeded to the original direction she was heading to.

_Fighting the sentry guns might have been the best experience next to fighting to human security patrols. It didn’t just make me learn of what I could do. I could also at least expect how blaster bolts would come at me. This is the 22 nd century. I need to anticipate my opponents._

Miranda was calmed and she knew she needed to find Pins. In between engagements, she was able to access a minor control station that she was able to hack. She was able to get a portion of the facility’s security network that eventually got her intelligence she needed. ‘Pins’ was spotted entering a room that’s intended to test experimental weaponry.

_And I had a feeling as to what he plans._

Fast-forwarding to the time she found the heavy set of doors ‘Pins’ entered, the doors parted horizontally from each other opening the room to her. She then entered it, before finally getting a glimpse of the large room. She was seeing dismantled mechanicals. Some looked like turtles standing on two legs while others looked like tanks. The ones that looked like battle tanks made her interested in a sense that she walked to it. Reaching and piercing her extensions at multiple spots like the turret and some parts of the hull. She was then impressed when the readings she’s getting as the tank has transformable nanites. Nanotechnology was common, but not for full-fledged battle tank mechs. This dismantled battle tank mech however has burned out nanites, meaning it cannot transform itself.

‘Pins’ then chuckles a little and his voice is heard all around the test chamber. “ _Welcome to the Testing Grounds, Miss Pierce,_ ” he said before 12 feet of length and width parted from the floor. Soon, another mechanical unit was being lifted into the room. The appearance of this mech unit was that it stands on two feet and it looks humanoid in form. This has a height of 9 feet, is equipped with dual blaster cannons on its shoulders while its arms have transformable nanite blasters… This mech unit is mostly silver in color but had golden highlights. “ _Impressive, isn’t it? I give you my greatest prototype… The Yankee Gear, designed to be the multi-purpose mechanical unit that’s suited for ground combat. I had a lot of varieties already shipped out and sold way before you came into my life. And to think you’re the first Sy-Tren Metallic project is foolish._ ”

Miranda widened her eyes at the readings she’s taking and really focused on the overall material of the mech. Something angered her as she spoke up to him, though only evident in her voice. “I know for a fact you’re piloting this thing. But I’m more pissed off that Sy-Tren metal makes up most of this mechanical prototype. You basically violated ethics codes from the United Nations a century ago.”

“ _Not that it mattered,_ ” ‘Pins’ said. Eventually, the unit stopped being transported and it was only standing still in the middle of the room. Soon, a set of red lights were turned on around its body and its head. It’s noticeable that the chest and torso were thick, and Miranda already assumed that the pilot is inside there somewhere. The mech unit started to move and it was aiming its shoulder blaster cannons at her. “ _We were providing the unit variation to countries that cannot defend themselves from future threats, or anything related to leftovers from the aliens. This has been done for decades. The black market didn’t really stop existing. And they dropped their insurances because of us._

“ _Now I have a question for you. You’re a machine now._ ”

“You… made… me… that way.” Miranda calmly said it loudly while half-glaring at the Yankee Gear.

“ _As I was saying,_ ” he said then, “ _do you want to accept it? It’s an evolutionary step. You’re not the first Sy-Tren Metallic project, but you’re the first one who integrated it into a live intelligent being… YOU. Don’t you see? You could so much more. That… And your family can be given benefits._ ”

“I don’t believe you.”

“ _Believe all you like. Everything you experienced prior to your arrival here was only the first step. But failing to contain you, means you need to be silenced. We’ve been waiting too long for our plans to be stopped now. It took us decades._ ” ‘Pins’ explained while the Yankee Gear clenched its fists tight before raising its arms and aimed them toward her. “ _I thought you’d see reason. Tyron was wrong about you._ ”

“What did he promise you?”

“ _Oh you know the usual villainous thinking: Get power and prestige. But I want something much more._ ” He said this before he smirked to himself. “ _…a loud applause._ ” Then he charged his arms before a series of automatic blaster emitters were brought out. He fired at her from both arms with a high rate of speed.

Miranda anticipated this and sprinted out of the way. She was impressed with how the mech was keeping up with her. The mech can concentrate its rounds at her, so it wasn’t wise for her to just charge without a plan. It was her first time however not anticipating the shoulder blaster cannons suddenly fire at her. And not seeing that small explosions were made in front of her, she was blasted out of place and was thrown off. “AAAGH…!!!” Her brief groan of pain came along when she was hit with burns on her body while thrown.

She slides on the floor and comes to a halt and the mech stops firing at her. She heard ‘Pins’ laughing boisterously as she was on the floor. And she looked at the mech now walking for her. She quickly struggles to get up while the mech jogs straight for her and eventually sensed it now charging at her. “Enough,” she loudly muttered. Then she closes one fist tight before she attempts to swing it. The mech imitates the movement and swung its fist right at hers. And for some reason, her now golden chain-link covered fist equally collides with mech fist, creating a strong force compared to quarter of a nuclear explosion, scattering parts of the dismantled mechs in the room.

Even he was impressed with what happened that the mech was stopped right there. He pulls the mech fist back and steps back before he chuckled. “ _I sense your resolve. Now… I want this to be quite a fight._ ”

Miranda looked at her own hand she used to punch the mech with, now covered with the golden Sy-Tren metal. She half-glared at the mech unit in front of her, showing her chain-link irises from her eyes turn red. “I will grant that request,” she calmly said. “Given that in your loss, you’ll tell me what you know.” And without other words, more parts of her body start to convert its current skin to the Sy-Tren metal that was in her this whole time. Moaning as she manipulated her skin to convert, the metal that engages and showed itself spreads from her arms to her torso and below.

It was moderate at best when the metal was able to envelop up to her feet and finish up to her neck. From a distance, she could be described to have a body that’s golden-yellow in color and shows layer after layer of very tiny chain-links that became its own armor. Bringing out her extensions from her fingers, she was now armed. “Do we have a deal, Jeffrey Tide?” she asked.

“ _No promises,_ ” he said. “ _I only want to contain this situation and kill you. But… Defeat becomes something that makes me bitter. I’d rather want to serve a purpose than serve aimlessly. You have a deal. I will not hold back on you, Miss Pierce._ ” It quickly raised its arms and fired blaster bolts at her.

Miranda was quick to react and was sprinting at him readying herself for what he’ll throw. “ _Neither will I,_ ” she thought.


	5. Out Of Time

She didn’t know how long it was, but all she knows is that she had to be focused on the fight. The mech prototype is proving to hold out even from her. She might be fluid on her movements, but Miranda has seen that the mech prototype, though with its weapons are sometimes sluggish, has dependable maneuverability if ever it needed to get out of a hairy situation. She took this in mind and kept her predictions wise. The directions she goes to also gets used against her. The mech prototype has long-range extensions of its own as she figured it out.

Miranda was holding out on her own as well, and was proficient in her current form with her gold-yellow chain-link metal layers keeping her protected but also adjusted to her bodily figure as she moved. She sometimes moved out of her defensive form and moved into offense since she sometimes finds new openings from the mech.

Using her extensions like loose whips, her offense tactic of using combinations with her fingers and arms to swing her Extension-Whips in attacking the mech.

Tide however was already annoyed. Activating one boost forward, he jumps back and slides before coming to a halt. He was panting within the mechanical suit, already seeing that he’s at a disadvantage. His shoulder blaster cannons were already taken out of his suit. Though he’s lighter, his own assurance for long-range combat is no longer existent. He chuckles at this, and decides on something when he spoke. “Dear dear Miranda. Even if you beat the information out of me, I would only squeeze my connections. Tyron is so deep in his own game that even I have no idea where to start looking for him.

“He said it once. I don’t find him. He finds me,” Tide concluded.

Miranda snorted while keeping her fingers folded, and her extensions out of her nails beside her. “That just makes it easier for me to hurt you.”

“You have nothing to gain for hurting me, little girl. Acting like the spoiled child you are and not grasping the big picture of progress-”

“And you keep forgetting that using Sy-Tren metals directly is still against the law. I’m sorry if I’m acting this way, but your guilt won’t be enough to save you.” She said this while walking forward. “One of us will come out alive.”

Tide grits his teeth while trying to control his rage. He controls the mechanical unit and walks forward as well. “Utopia of our making will be something you don’t understand if you don’t grasp our concept of preservation.”

Miranda narrows her eyes at the mech while calming her tone. “That’s your righteous mind speaking. Involving my family in this… It was a mistake. It will be your last.” She suddenly sprints forward, making Tide react poorly. He tried to hold his ground by stopping and readying his arms. “ _That’s exactly what I want you to do,_ ” she thought before she jumped from just 18 feet away before suddenly whipping her extensions towards the mech. And just as she figured, the extensions stuck to its arms while trying to possibly block whipping strikes. “ _Miscalculation,_ ” she thought then, “ _Your loss._ ” Then she made her extensions’ metallic layers spin like a saw before they completely cut through the mechanical arms, slicing it to sevenths each arm and made small explosions. Tide was heard screaming through the unit’s intercoms while Miranda landed gracefully on the floor retracting her extensions.

Looking at the mech, Miranda saw it fall backwards to the floor. This was her chance of making sure the mechanical unit stays down. She sprints and jumps just as she was several feet away and landed on the chest of the mech while she felt its force. She heard her own feet tap while a small dent was made on the mech when she landed. Glaring at the mech’s head, she puts her hands in front of her before her extensions quickly came out of her fingers. And as they extended and reached out all over the mech’s body, she sub-divided every extension before she started to penetrate and cut through the mech’s body.

Inside the mech, Tide was scared, feeling his own controls failing him and the inner parts of his mechanical suit being sliced from inside thanks to what Miranda penetrating the body.

And then Tide heard her speak, calm in her own tone but continued to conduct her activity of cutting through the suit. “ _Do you hear me, Tide? You will tell me what you know, even if it’s just supplemental. I believe you when you mentioned you don’t have much information about Tyron, but at least… you’ll tell me your motivations._ ” After she spoke, Tide saw the front screen turn off and the cockpit opened up revealing a half-angered Miranda with her chain-link irises red in color. Miranda retracts her extensions before she reached him with one hand and grabbed the collar of his clothing. She quickly pulls him and throws him off the mech suit, now with its legs cut off and its head no longer in place.

He lands on the floor and crawls back in fear. Sensing Miranda land in front of him and looking at him like a hunter after its prey, he got startled and crawled faster before he quickly got on his feet. He felt binds suddenly grab him from behind and tie up his arms and torso together, before he was pulled back and forced on his back. For several seconds, he heard heavy footsteps even as she walked casually. “ _Oh dear,_ ” he thought. “ _Would she mutilate me? What she’d do to me before interrogating me, will actually define her._ ”

Miranda looked at him while she looked at his startled face. She tilts her head while gently putting her right foot on his chest. “Tell me something, Tide. Why help Tyron with this? Why initiate the conspiracy?” She asked this while she tried to stimulate a reaction with her foot gently touching his neck. She then released her extensions from her foot which slowly crawled to his face. Her extensions analyzed the emotional reactions of his face as well as some matching secretions of his sweat.

Tide didn’t mind the extensions on his face as he looked up to her face, though human, no longer representing something that is fully human. He then looked towards one direction in the room where there was a disassembled mechanical unit. “You see one of the units over there? I know full well that he’s using it as a model to raise an army of sorts. I built it for him, but the materials aren’t made out of Sy-Tren Biometals.” He hesitated to speak for a few seconds, seeing Miranda’s neutral face and couldn’t tell if she was satisfied with his answer or not. That’s what fascinated him more and didn’t feel any fear. Then he spoke more. “That however happened a decade ago. I’ve been long associated with Mister Tyron. He gave me the resources I need. But I always take it into mind to remove all the data related to my work and his contributions.”

Miranda sensed Tide wasn’t lying. She briefly looked at that disassembled mechanical unit and and made a quick scan before she looked back down at Jeffrey Tide. “How are you stimulated with what you’d discover?”

“I am VERY stimulated. I even asked Mister Tyron if I would be getting pieces of the rewards he gets whenever he finishes an operation. He does things using operations so certain events take place… seemingly unrelated at first until everything comes. Those operations last years if I’m right. He’s more than a methodical man, Miss Pierce. He’s… so much more.” Tide said this just before Miranda’s extensions were quickly retracted. He felt he was released from her foot before she suddenly knelt down and opened her hand before grasping his neck. He still had room to breathe as he glared at her. “Are you going to execute me now that you have what I need?”

She looked at him with patience. But inside, she felt she wanted her urge of killing him to come through. “Can you tell of my emotion?”

As soon as Tide was asked that question, he winced at it. He even chuckled at little and grinned. “Good to know I can’t. It proves you were more than a success, Miss Pierce. You would be feared, while you can’t be read by many of your future victims.” He paused for a while before he continued. “One thing’s for sure… They will bow down to you… in fear.”

_I felt I had a decision to make here. I have his neck on one hand. I could snap his neck as I look upon his eyes until he breathes his last. Or… I could penetrate his body with my extensions and damage from inside, then outside until he’s no longer recognizable. And I’d do the second only if I have so much anger in my heart. He can’t be allowed to live, so choosing his ultimate fate would have to be his way to go._

_Then I had my decision in mind. And it’s a lesser evil._

Miranda neared her face and mouth near one of his ears and she whispered. “ _They’ll know your face. You’ll be martyred. But that…_ ” Her grip on his neck was doubled, making him start to choke. “ _…will not stop me. I’ll find my ways around your admirers. I doubt you’re always alone and without reputation. Now… Goodbye, Mr. Tide._ ” She then raised her head away from his and saw him struggle. He even tried to move her arm, but she was too strong. Several seconds later, she increased her grip and looked him in the eyes. She continued increasing her grip until he suddenly breathed his last, and a snap was heard before his head went limp and his eyes were still.

Then she did the unthinkable and put her hand on his chest. _Even if he has biologically a heart… he doesn’t have the right one._ She then suddenly puts her fingers on the corpse’s coat. Penetrating the skin and meat all at the same time with her extensions, she pushed her hand into his chest with blood slowly seeping out. Digging into the chest of the corpse chest lead her to make a small smile in her face just before she pulled out an organ drenched in blood. She knew it was the heart to begin with. And putting it down just beside the head of the corpse, she squeezed the heart before it made a small explosion, covering her and the corpse with more pieces of what the heart once was. Her armor and skin slowly absorbs the blood and her back made blood-red light patterns just before they faded when they reached the mid-back, making her appear clean.

Finding a nearby locker, Miranda opens it and sees a female researcher’s science attire before grabbing it. Her armor slowly turned back to her original nude skin to start with and grabbed the clothing for herself…

_After that… Getting out was easy. I just had to blend in until I found a maintenance hatch. Everyone was panicking on what happened that they forgot security was the real issue. They even let me out because of it…_

**_00:19… An older-style 24/7 highway diner…_ **

**_Weather: Rainy…_ **

Miranda was looking down while her elbows were on the table. She was seated on a long leather-covered chair with casually bright colors half-matching the rest of the diner’s theme. The sound of the rain outside was the only thing she heard while being muffled by the windows that surrounded the diner. She softly sighs before she sensed the waitress was coming to her with a ceramic cup of coffee. The cup of black coffee was put down on the table and Miranda thanked the waitress who then nodded and walked off. She then proceeded to pick the cup of coffee up and sip some in.

_There was a revelation. As soon as I was able to consume the drink, my scanners were going crazy, but it was bearable. For some reason, it had to be routine since it’s my first time drinking as… a robot of sorts. At least that’s what I first thought myself as. The scan showed its contents including the usual caffeine and a hint of sugar just the way I like it. Is my body able to feed off food easily? Or is there some other way this works? Those were the questions I had in mind._

Miranda puts her cup of coffee down and closes her eyes. She left reality again and opened her eyes, seeing herself inside the void and seeing the full-armored AI in front of her. “GX… There’s something I need to ask.”

GX who seemed neutral at the time had her attention towards Miranda. “You may ask.”

“Is there anything specific I need to consume? I was wondering about it for a while now.”

“Not really,” GX replied then, “As I’m able to analyze it seems the bio-metal was able to graft itself onto your biology and made itself part of you. Because of that, I’m able to sense more of your body being influenced greatly by the metal you were injected with. So any of the food you eat becomes energy… or better yet the energy also goes to the bio-metal that is now part of you.”

“Oh God…” Miranda muttered in disapproval. “What if there’s something wrong and my mind gets hit? It should worry me.”

“There’s something else, Miranda.” GX looked away briefly to think for a while before she turned her head and eyes back to her companion. “Your brain… I must tell the specifics. I’ve been examining your biological origins, or at least, part of it. Your brain is somehow unique right now. It once went through a process of brain healing.”

Miranda nods and replies. “Before I was born, I was once supposed to be born via C-section since Mom had problems producing natural placenta. The latest technology of radial biology technology changed that and I was born, almost healthy. Apparently my brain was fragile from the moment the radiation hits Mom. It hit me too… and it had gotten me in danger of brain cancer and scarring.

“Then Dad had this idea. Few decades ago, he was able to formulate the solution to a problem that involved brain healing and how it can stay for a longer period of time without breaking. It involves a combination of fibrosis application and advanced neuroplasticity injection. He pumped me with that much until I was able to stabilize.” Miranda sighed and put her hand on her face to try calming herself from what she told to GX before continuing. “He saved me after birth. If that didn’t happen to me, I wouldn’t be here at all.” Looking at GX, she had a face of concern. “I don’t want to consider myself lucky-”

“I’m not recommending you to feel compelled calling yourself fortunate,” GX replied. “Your father was able to save you a great deal of suffering even if you never knew about it. Your own brain chemistry changed after that and several factors tied to one another even started to increase your intelligence at a faster rate.”

“It was controlled,” Miranda replied while crossing her arms over the other. “I was given motivation while I was bored. I was given something to do when I was too idle. That said, I got enough attention. Because of how it was, I’m completely different from the rest. But I still learned from the same age group… kinda.”

“That said, you shouldn’t worry about your brain being affected. Because of your origins, your brain is not susceptible to chemical damage. Remember: The bio-metal doesn’t seek to control. It finds a biological host not to invade, but to co-exist. And eventually, I exist… your counterpart and your guide to what you are.” GX smiled after her last statement.

And just as Miranda was to get to her full emotion of surprise, she opens her eyes in reality. She was called by the same waitress who served her coffee, having blonde short hair with no bangs or skirts on the side of her head. At this, Miranda raised an eyebrow. “Forgive me, but I was out of it for a while.”

“Nah, it’s fine. It’s just…” The waitress spoke and hesitated, figuring out her next set of words just before she continues with a smile. “Pardon but… My sister… She studies at Saint Mary Guerrera’s and she sometimes talks about you. You’re Miranda Pierce, aren’t ya?”

“Huh? Um…”

“I’m sorry. I’m Fran. Gin’s sister. You know Gin Cole… the boy-like nerd but actually a girl and-”

“Yeah yeah… I’m sorry. Well, yes. I don’t know her personally, but she’s a great lab partner.” Miranda was able to express her emotions by half as she figured she would. But it still is convincing as the conversation continues. “She helped me a few times to make a solution stable when it was overheating. That’s… kinda how chemistry lands us.”

“Yup… Gina kinda does that often. She’s glad to help you.” Fran replied this and scratched her head before taking a seat across Miranda’s table. “Don’t you find it weird she acts and looks like a boy?”

“I don’t, really. In fact none of us do. All of us in there don’t judge one another, or at least that’s what I think.” Miranda sighed, looking away towards the window where she saw droplets of the rain land and slowly descend down to its base. “I’m sorry. I… I’m thinking more about Dad. He… passed away.”

Fran lowered her head and tried looking at Miranda even though the other didn’t do the same. “I’m sorry. It’s... I’m with ya. I kinda feel sorry right now-”

Miranda was listening in a partial blur while she was seeing more droplets come to the window and slowly descend, only thinking of what her times were like with her father Harold before he died in that explosion. She heard a critical choice of words when the thunder struck from afar and she winced. Shocked to hear of it, she looked right at Fran. “Wait… Could you please repeat that?”

Fran was a little surprised when she replied. “Oh…! Well… I know how it felt since I had a dad once.”

“No, no… More recent than that.”

“Oh, that. Harold Pierce’s first death anniversary is today. Everyone’s remembering it and they’re gonna go to his grave the next morning. Your family’s gonna be there-” But before Fran continued, she noticed something from Miranda, staring at the distance frozen. “Miranda?”

Miranda herself was in disbelief. “ _It… can’t be…_ ” she thought.

_I thought at first it was impossible, but later on, I had no choice but to believe. It was already 2120…_


	6. Unlikely Sibling

Miranda’s eyes were frozen in place the moment she realized it. Images of data she looked at back at the facility also contained encrypted number combinations. She wasn’t sure of what it was before, but she couldn’t reveal it while in place. With the little information she had about what was conducted in that facility she escaped from, she was able to think of multiple combination modes.

She was back in her personal void… with GX right in front of her. Clutching her head, she even gripped her head tight in denial. “No… No… I missed a whole year-?!”

“Calm yourself,” GX suggested. “You’re palpitating.”

And Miranda did feel it herself. The date was becoming clear to her, thanks to GX processing the data that was focused on those encrypted numbers on the data.

She had to ask even as she was panting a little faster. “You’re using the Falcore-Satia Numbering scheme?”

“Indeed. It’s a difficult coding scheme to track down by a human analyst, but androids and AI can do decryption easily. I can tell you one part of the decryption however. It DOES contain dates. I just have to look at each individual entry and-”

“Try not to process too much I’d lose control. I… I’m still getting used to things… I still can’t believe it… A year.” Miranda sighed before closing her eyes, and getting back to reality again. She realized she was hearing Fran’s voice for a while now, it was one of worry. Back from her frozen trance, Miranda was gently shook up from Fran who was trying to get her attention. And Miranda looked at the young woman’s eyes of worry. “I…” She looked down. “I need a drink.” And she wasn’t hesitant in holding her hot cup of coffee with both hands.

Fran was surprised, seeing Miranda take the cup of coffee and raising it up to her mouth and started to actually drink it, instead of sipping from it. “ _Isn’t that coffee still hot-?!_ ” Her worried thoughts filled her mind for a few seconds just before she actually saw Miranda put the cup down, now empty. “ _Few gulps and that’s it?!_ ” Fran’s surprised thoughts and emotion forced her to speak up. “What in the literal-?! Are you kidding me?”

And Miranda was panting, feeling the temperature that was supposed to sting a normal human. She knows however what she is and she felt her own body didn’t give her that much pain but just a sting that was quickly healing. Looking straight at Fran, she started to stand from her seat. “I can’t involve you in this.”

Fran saw Miranda stand and leave, but insisted by even following. “Wait, wait a minute! I got so many questions!”

“Enough with them!” said Miranda. “There are so many things I missed for a whole year.”

“But that’s what I got in mind! Where have you been for the last year?! You disappeared!!” Fran held Miranda’s shoulder.

This moment just made Miranda snap while her world slows down. She immediately stops walking when Fran held her shoulder. At an instant, she opens up her hands and out came her extensions from her hands. Her eyes changed to red chain-link iris patterns. And her extensions curve and lengthened, just until they reached up to Fran’s neck and ears.

Fran felt like it was a split second after she held Miranda’s shoulder when the extensions acting like tentacles were pointing at her neck and ears. Then she started to feel scared when Miranda turned her head. “ _Oh my God,_ ” Fran thought.

Miranda blinks once and raises her hand to level at Fran’s eyes, showing her own fingers with no nails and the source of the extensions that held up to Fran’s head. And she snorts before she spoke. “You don’t understand a thing I’ve went through, and it’s Hell to me. Putting some sort of metal inside just to get me to act like a weapon… it didn’t work and I just escaped. I’m out here and I don’t know what to do, and that’s more when you told me it’s my father’s first death anniversary.” She then started to show her glaring eyes at Fran. “Now you want to tell me the obvious. Tell me things I don’t know and maybe I’ll consider giving you-” And she winced, hesitating to speak any further until she thought about it. “ _No… This isn’t right._ ” After she had that thought, she started to retract her extensions, soon returning from beneath where her nails were until the extension tips formed as her actual nails, gold-yellow in color before lowering her hand while her eyes returned to normal. This time, she felt ashamed. “This… This was a mistake. I can’t trust anyone… not with what I’ve become.”

Fran froze for a moment before she gasped and began to step back, and clumsily falls backwards to the floor and landing on her butt. Groaning in pain, she decided to crawl back, not even minding how she crawls as her own fear guided her to survive. She stopped crawling however when she found out Miranda wasn’t pursuing. “What was THAT?!! WHAT ARE YOU?!!!” She shouted her question, expressing her confusion, anger and shock.

“You should probably forget me,” Miranda replied before she turned away. She walked to the door and attempted to get out from there.

_That was about the time I was about to meet my annoying bitch enemy._

Fran was about to relax when Miranda was about to walk out when an object flew past her head. It was so fast she couldn’t see it.

And even Miranda felt the blade pierce the wall beside her which made her stop. She winced in surprise but felt calm, examining the blade… one that is purely without a hilt and had a series of engravings that were related to flowers. There were engraving of different kinds of them like roses and orchid flowers. The blade was then seen at about 13 inches (33.02 cm) long and had a width of four inches (10.16 cm). There was a distinguishable shape that led to both sides of its with sharpened and the tip of the blade was more so.

“ _Nee-chan…_ ” A young girl’s voice, obviously Japanese in its language, spoke up from behind Miranda. And based on the voice’s distance, she could be at the other side of the diner. Footsteps can be heard, and they were small steps.

Miranda turned around seeing quite a rare sight. A girl wearing a knee-length dress that’s themed with medium-sized blue and white checkered squares was approaching. She also had white strap-on sneakers, is described to have pure white chest-length hair. This girl seemed to be 12 years old and has a height of 4 feet 10 inches (147.32 cm), despite having a younger voice than her age. Then she’s seen smiling. “ _What’s her deal?_ ” Miranda asked in her own thoughts. She was able to see the girl’s eyes were unique… having a red cyborg eye and a natural left eye that’s blue in color.

The girl in question looked at Miranda in curiosity. “Nee-chan… You look like you’ve suffered for a short amount of time,” she said. “You’re not damaged, are you?”

Miranda snorted before replying. “Depends on who you ask. You’re an android, aren’t you?”

“Mm!” The girl nodded and smiled while answering. “Nee-chan, my name’s Chaika! Nice to meet you!”

“You shouldn’t call me your older sister,” Miranda replied giving a glare. “It makes me blush. But complimenting me is now why you’re here.”

“Mm…” Chaika hums a curious tone. “I should still call you my older sister. You’re quite superior in the type of achievement you are. After all, you were a project that made Big Brother interested in you.”

“Tch… That’s after I was kidnapped and made an experiment that I didn’t even know time passed so much. There’s more than my integration of my bio-metal, is there?”

As the question was asked, Chaika only put out her tongue to mock Miranda. “Ehehe…! Secret!”

“I see. Thank you.” And Miranda suddenly lets her right hand metallic extensions extend and curve towards the blade on the wall. Sub-dividing her extensions and reaching the blade, she held it before pulling it off the wall like it was only piercing a marshmallow. She accurately threw the blade at Chaika. But when the blade was spinning and approaching Chaika, she saw the girl raise her arms before her wrist opened up with some of her android parts showing. The blade easily fits into her arm before she quickly closed it up, making it look like it was a human arm again. Miranda clearly saw it and let her other hand’s extensions come out. “Stay away from me. I’m warning you.”

Chaika only changed her emotion to neutral. “Nee-chan, you have it wrong. I want to impress you.”

Fran shrieked in fear, coming out of her frozen state. She crawled away from the scene and got under the tables. “ _Oh hell, these two are gonna fight it out!_ ” she thought. “ _Why did I take this damn shift?!!_ ”

Miranda walked towards the girl calmly while glaring, measuring her opponent. “Didn’t you ever hear that a cornered animal may be a predator’s worst nightmare?”

“I have,” Chaika replied. “But one thing is flawed from that quote.” Putting her arms forward, her wrists and hands opened up before a red hue of light shaped like circles lit up, making her hand cannons. Her shoulders started to open with bay doors growing size start to deploy small multi-missile launchers each. The launchers were aimed right at Miranda. “That only applies if the cornered animal isn’t overpowered.”

_She clearly doesn’t know me. Chaika. One weapon designed for mid-range combat had come for me. I didn’t know back then how much damage she’d make, and for the first time, she will become entertaining for me._

Chaika fires small missiles from her shoulder launchers, releasing a total of 46. Miranda was able to sense the small missiles quickly approach as she walked before her extensions reacted and pursued the missiles. Each of her extensions were able to quickly cut the missiles to half at a split-second. Multiple small explosions were made at the point of when the missiles were able to get cut. Chaika’s quick recalculation caused her to fire her hand-cannons, releasing red blaster bolts from them. Miranda was quick to immediately get on her knees, missing the blaster bolts completely as they pass above her and hit the nearby door. Cursing to herself, Miranda retaliates by sending all her extensions flying at Chaika, who anticipates by grinning evilly. Chaika transforms her arms, described as inch-sized spots quickly morph to her own arms, but now having blades attached to her elbows and reaching past her hands at just about a feet longer.

At this revelation, Miranda winced. “ _Not good,_ ” she thought. And just as her extensions arrived, she saw Chaika quickly move her arms towards a group of extensions before her blades sliced through to the extensions, before one stroke came from her other arm until she was doing it repeatedly, each only having an interval of milliseconds apart. Miranda pulled back her extensions several seconds later, stopping her assault and later turning her skin into her golden chain-link body-precise shape armor all the way above her chest and stopping at her neck. Miranda decided to get on her feet to stand.

What Chaika found amusing is that all Miranda’s clothes were shredded in the armor’s deployment and it made her giggle while she put her bladed arms at her sides while seeing Miranda stand. “Nee-chan… I clearly underestimated your resolve.”

“Impressive,” Miranda replied not showing emotion. “An android who’s clearly armed and stands a match. Maybe.”

Chaika smiled at the remark. “And you acknowledged me as a person. I like that from you, Nee-chan. Well… It seems clear challenging you now would be a waste of time.” And she was making her blade rescind back into her arms. Her nanotech was helping out in returning her external weapons back into her body and fits like a glove. Once Chaika was back in her human form, her face turned from a smile to a frown. “You won’t like… what you’ll find when you continue your current course. I’m just warning you.”

“Tyron put you up to this, didn’t he?” Miranda asked, before swinging her arm and whipping multiple extensions at tables and chairs, destroying them. Some rage was meant to be expressed, and she expressed her half-glared emotion to back up her emotion. She responded as she was pulling her back her extensions to her fingernails. “I only spoke to him once, and he already my life miserable. If you’re here to say sorry, then you’re wasting your time.”

Chaika glared stronger than Miranda and walked towards her. “Damn it! You’re not getting the point! You shouldn’t have killed off those people back at that facility!”

Miranda let Chaika approach until she sees the girl stop just a few feet away from her before responding. “I did exactly what I wanted to without anything filtering what I feel.”

“That’s all that matters to you, is it Nee-chan? Is it always personal?” Chaika asked this before she looked at Miranda closely. She blushed a little while she scanned what she saw and looked back at Miranda’s unique eye theme. “You’re superior in every way, but I won’t stop trying to improve. We’ll meet again, and that’s for sure.”

“I doubt I want to meet you again,” Miranda replied. “I already know you are obsessed of what I am. Your nanotechnology might be top-notch, but I haven’t seen its full power yet. Still… I share no love for you whatsoever.”

Chaika winced and paused there for a while before she giggled, and laughed boisterously after a few seconds. “Ehehehe…!!! Yes… I’m liking this! I’m liking you more, Nee-chan! Now I have something to look forward to. Consider your challenge accepted.”

Miranda raised an eyebrow. “You mean your power?”

“Uh-huh. I’m the one thing that stands between Tyron, and you. If you DO manage to beat me, then you would have truly surpassed what you first were from this day that I met you. Then I’d surely be happy. Defeating you however doesn’t make it good, but I still have to do what I can to make the world as how it’s desired!”

“You mean how ‘HE’ desires it?”

“That’s up to you to figure out,” Chaika said before she walked past Miranda. She felt a bit relieved that Miranda let her through just before she reached the door and stopped walking. She spoke without looking back. “You’re right that you shouldn’t show love. I might have fabricated feelings, but they feel real to me. You should find it wise to respect that.”

Miranda then turned around calmly to answer, seeing Chaika’s back. “And if I don’t?”

“Then it’s tooth and nail with how we fight,” Chaika replies before giggling a little and holding the door. “Nice to finally meet you, Nee-chan.” Pushing the door open, Chaika leaves while the sound of the rain was heard while it was open.

The door was about to close when Miranda decided to go to the door. Holding the door and pushing it open, she looked around outside while the rain poured. Chaika was nowhere to be seen.

Miranda easily got into her personal void just to be with GX for a moment. "She's more than just an android, GX."

"Agreed. I think there's more to her than how she showed us."

"And it proves Tyron has more resources than how I first estimated," Miranda said before easily opening her eyes again back to reality, going back to the diner and closing the door behind her. She then looked at the damages done on the inside with chairs and tables destroyed and those explosions from before having made burn marks on the walls and at the floor. Looking at a distant set of a table and chairs, Fran was scared and was still under that table. Miranda made sure not to scare the young woman and approached with her own steps distinguishable. She then called from afar to make sure Fran isn't spooked while approaching. "How long are you going to hide under there?"

Fran was slowly getting to her senses ever since she was being called out by Miranda since she recognized that voice. She heard herself panting after staying quiet. And as she moved her head, she knew she was still trembling. She then looked at the floor nearby, seeing golden chain-link covered feet before the figure near her knelt. She recognized Miranda's human face as she looked at the appearance. What scared her more however, was Miranda's eyes blackened and only showing the red chain-link circular iris pattern. "H-How do I know you won't kill me?"

Miranda wasn't quick to answer as one way to let Fran think she's on her side. "If killing you would be my objective, I've been more efficient doing that after telling you what I was. As you've seen earlier however, that's not the case. I never wanted to involve you."

"Shut up, SHUT UP!!!" Fran shrieked and glared at Miranda. "I don't know what the hell Gina saw from you, but you're certainly different from the Miranda I just heard. You used to be flexible with your emotions!"

"Are you going to this now?" Miranda muttered but let Fran continue.

"You used to be more anti-social that being quiet was better for you! And yet you still have that capacity to make admirers! That conversation you had with that girl just now made you look like a murderer!!!"

"My own tone in default doesn't make me get read easily since I'm more aligned as neutral with what I've become. That changes everything in how I deal with things. So I apologize if I felt so cold. One thing you should know me however... is that I didn't lie to myself. Tyron was the first person to call me, telling me my own mother and brother were kidnapped. I had to force myself to give up and they turned me into this-" Miranda stopped and hesitated to speak further. It took a while but she continued. "Maybe you're not the right person to know my story. You deserved better than this. Farewell." And immediately, she stood up before walking away from Fran's place. " _I can't be responsible for her death. It's time I move on,_ " she thought.

Fran however was processing what Miranda had said and winced. " _No... What have I done-?_ " she thought before crawling out of the table and stood up. Looking around the diner and a possible direction Miranda went to, she couldn't find her. She was already gone and she panted. She could hear distant sirens, presumably coming from either fire trucks or patrol vehicles. With what she experienced, she doesn't have the right ideas in her own head. Sitting down at one of the chairs not damaged by the fight that ensued earlier, she sighs.

_I like to be better in discovering new things about life, but I just made mine darker. Not only have I been able to change my nature in front of that young woman, but I was also proving something to myself. I've totally changed my attitude the moment I woke up and experienced power. Should I have been worried about it?_

_My aim continues. I'll have to go back to California to gather allies... whoever is left. I might be a weapon, but I'm not one without friends._


End file.
